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Richard Wolfson <rwolfson@concentric.net>: GE news



  Some readers on Sanet may find the following interesting:

--------- Begin forwarded message ----------
From: Richard Wolfson <rwolfson@concentric.net>
To: info@natural-law.ca
Subject: GE news
Date: Tue, 16 Sep 1997 11:57:42 -0500
Message-ID: <l03102800b042c058b02e@[206.173.215.27]>

Press release - for immediate publication

Appeal by biggest Dutch retail chain in GE soybean case fails on all
points

In february the Natuurwetpartij (Dutch Natural Law Party) filed a
complaint
with the Advertisement Code Commission against false and misleading
advertising by Albert Heijn, the biggest Dutch retail chain. Albert Heijn
is part of the Netherlands based multinational Ahold, which has retail
chains in different parts of the world. Albert Heijn had published an
artcle in its free monthly magazine (1.8 million copies) in which it
advertised genetically manipualted soybeans as having the same quality as
natural soybeans. The Natural Law Party argued that this and other
statements by Ahold's supermarket chain were untrue and misleading to the
consumers. The Advertisement Code Commissiion confirmed three out of four
charges made by the Natural Law Party and recommended Albert Heijn to not
make such misleading advertising any more.

Contrary to the claims made by Albert Heijn, genetically manipulated soya
has not the same quality as natural soya. The article also suggested that
the Dutch government, the Consumers Union and the European authorities
performed extensive testing of the soybeans. They did however not test
the
soybeans directly, but evaluated summaries of research performed by
Monsanto, the US-based multinational which manipulated the soya beans.

Ahold's retail chain did not accept the decision of the Advertisement
Code
Commission. They sought assistance from an external law firm and filed an
appeal. The Appeal Commission now has decided that the appeal fails on
all
points and maintains the decision by the Advertisement Code Commission.

Unpredictable risks

Monsanto has manipulated into the soybeans genetic material from a
flower,
a bacteria and a virus.  The declaration of safety and permission given
by
the government are for a large part based on speculative expectations
brought forward by the producer himself.

The research to date on genetically manipulated foods has hardly begun to
evaluate the enormous range of risks brought about by the process of
genetic manipulation. The Natural Law Party holds the standpoint that
consumers should have the right to avoid those risks. General labeling of
genetically manipulated products and separation of the manipulated crops
are necessary to achieve this. If the retailers want it, they certainly
can
demand this and bring it about.

Next week the Advertisement Code Commission will hold a hearing
concerning
a second complaint brought by the Natuurwetpartij against Albert Heijn.
The
country's biggest grocer claims that lecithin and oil derived from
genetically manipulated soybeans are exactly the same as those from
natural
soy. That also is not true.

info: Natuurwetpartij (Natural Law Party of the Netherlands)
eMail <info@natuurwetpartij.nl> website: <http://www.natuurwetpartij.nl>

..........................................................................

           16,000 Sign Petition Opposing Genetic Engineered Foods in UK

                          Public tell M.A.F.F.
                        "We don't want GM crops."

At 4.55 pm on Sept 12, representatives from the Genetic Engineering
Network
(G.E.N.) delivered 16,000 signatures into UK Ministry of Agriculture
Fisheries and Foods (M.A.F.F.) representative Fiona James. This is in
response to their call for public comments on genetically modified
herbicide tolerant crops on UK farms.  The petition called for the
removal
of all genetically manipulated foods.

"It is now time for consumers to join together with farmers and stand up
to
the pressures of the agri-biotech industry and instead work together
towards truly sustainable alternatives to genetic manipulation."



_________________________________________________________
Richard Wolfson,  PhD
Campaign for Mandatory Labelling and Long-term
Testing of all  Genetically Engineered Foods
Natural Law Party, 500 Wilbrod Street
Ottawa, ON  Canada  K1N 6N2
Tel. 613-565-8517  Fax. 613-565-6546
email:  rwolfson@concentric.net

Our website is: http://www.natural-law.ca/genetic/geindex.html
It now contains previous biotech articles from Alive, articles
from Joe Cummins and John Fagan,  other GE website links, etc.

To receive regular news from the Campaign to Ban
Genetically Engineered Food, please send an email
message to rwolfson@concentric.net, with the words
'subscribe GE' in the subject line.  To remove yourself
from this list, please send the message 'unsubscribe GE'
__________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________



--------- End forwarded message ----------